Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said Wednesday that the United States should deescalate hostilities with Iran and that he will continue to advocate to bring American troops home from the Middle East.
Lee, a leading non-interventionist politician in the United States Senate, said that he was thankful that no Americans were harmed in Tuesday night’s missile attack on two military bases in Iraq.
The Utah senator said that Congress should question whether further military action is “warranted” by Congress. He added that America should reduce tensions with Iran and that he will continue to advocate for reducing America’s presence in the Middle East.
“Thankfully, no Americans were harmed by last night’s missile attack. Whether further military action is warranted is a question that should be answered by Congress,” Lee said. “The U.S. should seek to deescalate these raised tensions and I will continue to push to bring our troops back from the region.”
Lee also praised President Donald Trump’s strike against Iranian top military commander Qasem Soleimani last week as a “victory for the safety of the American people.”
Foreign policy experts, such as Defense Priorities senior fellow and retired Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, said Tuesday that America could continue to respond to Iranian aggression without leaving American troops in Iraq open to potential attack.
Davis said that the “appropriate U.S. response can be organized and executed offshore without leaving U.S. forces vulnerable in Iraq. Unlike Iran, the U.S. can project power from anywhere.”
“Drawing down from the Middle East has long made strategic sense, and doing so now would keep U.S. forces safe, minimize the chances for all-out war with Iran, and preserve U.S. power,” he added.
The Utah conservative’s statement follows after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) praised Trump’s strike on Soleimani. Gaetz serves as another leading advocate of Trump’s America First foreign policy vision, wherein America intervenes less abroad and focuses more on rebuilding the American nation.
“If President Trump wanted war with Iran there were plenty of other opportunities to do that. He does not want war with Iran, and neither do I,” Gaetz told Breitbart News.
Gaetz charged that Trump’s foreign policy serves as a stark contrast of previous presidents’ foreign policy consensus of regime change, believing that Trump’s foreign policy is best when the country targets terrorists and brings the troops home.
He explained, “The world is witnessing a change in doctrine. The Obama-Bush Middle East regime change doctrine was to invade and then hope to persuade people that we were liberators. The Trump doctrine is at its best when we strike the terrorists and then bring our troops home.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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